When Wearables Meet The Cloud

Now that Apple Watches that are set to arrive in April has everyone thinking about the potential of wearable device, it’s only a matter of time before solution providers across the channel are asked to develop applications that actually make use of these devices.

With that in mind Salesforce.com unfurled Salesforce for Apple Watch when the devices were first launched. But Adam Seligman, vice president of developer relations for Salesforce (CRM), said the more interesting thing will be to see what applications developers create for the Apple Watch and other wearable platforms using Salesforce cloud platforms and application programming interfaces (APIs).

At the price points that the Apple Watch has been introduced at applications used by sales people and senior business executives are likely to be among the first to gain traction in the market. But Seligman notes that there will soon be a raft of wearable computing devices that can run applications built using the Saleforce1 software development kit (SDK).

Much like mobile applications that have gone before applications running on wearable devices are dependent on the robustness of the backend cloud services they invoke. To that end, cloud service providers are now in a battle for the hearts and minds of solution providers looking to develop a host of wearable applications that could be applied in any number of vertical industries.

The challenge, of course, is that each wearable device presents a slightly different programming model. Seligman said coupling the Salesforce SDK with a common backend to support those devices mitigates a lot of the complexity associated with developing applications across multiple wearable devices.

Naturally, it’s a little early in terms of mainstream wearable device adoption. But it’s clear thanks to devices such as Fitbit that there is demand for not only wearable devices, but also applications that can be downloaded such like any other mobile application. For example, just about any vertical industry that depends on mobile workers operating in the field to any degree represents a potential wearable device opportunity. The challenge is figuring out what that device might actually be and then getting an application developed that can work within the limited user interface space of that device.

The good news is that a host of third-party developers are already trying to figure out how to build applications for the Apple Watch. As those applications come to market this year and next there is more than likely to be more than a few that offer some interesting commercial possibilities.